Outline of Department of Urban Engineering

Message from Head of Department

Solving contemporary urban problems requires not only a deep, specialized knowledge of underlying core technologies, but also a general understanding of the working mechanisms behind a wide range of interrelated factors. Furthermore, the capacity to solve these problems might go beyond a single specialist's knowledge, making effective teamwork necessary to tackle issues from different perspectives. Our program provides a wide range of research and educational opportunities to learn these skills. We expect that students will help develop the field of urban engineering as we strive to enhance the future prosperity of our society.

Brief History

The Department of Urban Engineering was established in 1962, and the Graduate School Programs started in 1966. Around 120 undergraduate students and 170 graduate students, including 50 international students, are currently enrolled.

Educational Policy

The aim of the Department is to give students a definite background as an expert of planning, design and management of the urban community. The programs offered here are designed to help meet with the widespread needs for specially-educated manpower in urban planning and environmental engineering. The department is composed of an urban planning course and an environmental and sanitary engineering course. In both courses, a strong emphasis is placed on the studio and/or laboratory work.

(1) Urban Planning course

The aim of the course is to train the students for physical planners who have a comprehensive knowledge and an ability in various engineering fields required for urban planning such as civil engineering, architecture and building science, environmental engineering, social science, and data analysis. Intensive studio works are provided in which the students learn how to design building complexes, individual communities and regions. The studio works include collection of urban data, analysis of the collected data, projections of urban structures and construction of physical models.

(2) Environmental and Sanitary Engineering course

Environmental and sanitary engineers are responsible for controlling and managing water, air, solid waste and land resources and for preserving the quality of urban environments. The students in the course take studio works such as design of water or waste water treatment plants and environmental protection, and laboratory research such as water quality analysis, field survey for environmental pollution control, and experiments of hydrodynamics and water treatment.

Active Fields for Department Graduates

About one third of the graduates enter the graduate course to continue their studies. One of the features of the Department is that fields open to graduates are broad and spreading to an international scope. About a half of the graduates are working in the public sector, including the Ministry of Construction and other ministries of the national government. various local governments, universities and research institutes. The other half are working for private companies such as planning and design consultants, general contractors, banks, insurance companies, trading companies and other industries.